The Amateur Financier

If you’re a long time reader of The Amateur Financier, you probably recall that a few weeks ago, I began a new job working at night.  While the job itself isn’t too bad (the work is somewhat easy, if rather repetitive, the people are nice, and the pay is good), I’m having a hard time getting back onto a night schedule.  It’s been rough trying to get to sleep during the day, especially this past week.  Even on the weekend, I am still really off, and haven’t been doing as much with my blog or other work around the house as I probably should.

As a result, I’m feeling a little sleep deprived these past few weeks, but I’m slowly getting into the swing of things.  Unfortunately, this temp position is currently slated to end on the 26th, two weeks from now, so just as I’m getting used to being nocturnal, things might change up on me again.  Ah, well, at least I will have more time to work on my blog.  (Although, I won’t complain if I get another job before too long.)

Luckily, there are bloggers who’ve had more time this week to write than I’ve had.  Some of the blog posts that have made me think this week:

Financial Guru Review: David Bach – Proof that personal finance writers DO read their comments, there’s a review of David Bach’s writing over at Green Panda Treehouse that I suggested.  The review is pretty much par for the course; Bach has some good suggestions, including focusing on your little daily expenses and automating your financial transactions as much as possible, but he tends to push home ownership regardless of your financial conditions.  As long as you remember to consider your own situation and make your own decisions, he gives good advice.

Government Spending out of Control, or is it Something Else? – The Weakonomist makes a very good point regarding government spending and oversight.   He noted that in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan, where much of the the work is being done by contractors, the system of awarding contracts without taking the lowest bids and little oversight leads to less efficient outcomes.  Proper auctions and supervision would lead to much more efficient outcomes.

Suze Orman: Not Equipped to Educate Us? – Suze Orman takes a great deal of heat, as a result of being a famous money advisor with a sometimes grating personality.  (One of my first posts actually covered another controversy involving her.)  Over on My Life ROI, MLR reviews a recent interview she did for the NY Times Magazine, where she said some rather questionable things.  My opinion of her advice is still quite high, but she is becoming a little sullied in my mind as a result of many of her off-topic comments.

PF Bloggers Weight Loss Challenge Week 1 Results -  In one of those fun, not quite PF related but interesting events that occasionally pops up, Baker at Man vs. Debt has gotten a group of personal finance bloggers together and convinced them to break into teams and try to lose weight.  It’s a cool idea, and if my night-time temp job weren’t messing with my schedule and my metabolism, I’d be eager to join.  As it stands, I’ll just have to watch, and see if he does this again when I might actually be able to compete.

The Black Box Theory of Stock Market Returns – There is a tendency, when talking about the return you will get from the stock market, to only think of the average return and not consider everything that goes into getting that return.  Luckily, Frank Curmudgeon of Bad Money Advice is there to help, providing some insight into the ‘black box’ of the stock market, and talks about some of the factors that influence stock movement.    As with much of what he writes, it’s an insightful view most people never consider.

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